Obama: 'Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me, 35 Years Ago'

President Barack Obama on Friday jumped into the debate over the acquittal of the man who killed black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, declaring that Martin "could have been me, 35 years ago" and urging Americans to understand the pain blacks felt over the case.

Obama abruptly appeared in the White House press briefing room to offer his thoughts on the trial of George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Florida, neighborhood watch volunteer who was found not guilty of murder for shooting Martin, 17, in a struggle in 2012.

The televised trial and Saturday's verdict highlighted contentious issues such as racial profiling, with many blacks arguing that Zimmerman chose to follow Martin because he was black, and rejecting Zimmerman's self-defense argument.

Without saying so specifically, Obama sided with those who say the shooting need not have happened, expressing sympathy to the Martin family and praising them for the "incredible grace and dignity with which they've dealt with the entire situation."

He said the case was properly handled in the Florida court and acknowledged the relevance of the jury finding reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case. He questioned "stand your ground" self-defense laws that have been adopted in 30 states.

Obama, however, said Americans should understand the perspective of the black community, which has suffered a long history of racial discrimination.

"You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago," he said somberly.

Obama, 51, born in Hawaii to a black Kenyan father and white American mother, recalled his own encounters with racism and racial profiling.

"There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me," he said.

Newsmax contributor Clarence V. McKee, who held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as the Reagan presidential campaigns, said he could relate to parts of Obama’s remarks as an African-American, but wondered why the president took so long to make them.

“The problem is you know he’s had five years to discuss the issues and problems facing black males — higher incarceration rates, higher sentencing rates, black on black crime,” according to McKee. “He hasn’t done anything to offer a legislative agenda to change anything.”

McKee said the president had essentially ducked the issue of race until his surprise visit to the White House briefing room on Friday.

“He has avoided anything about black people — black on black crime, the black unemployment rate,” McKee observed. “A lot of black men are locked up and left out and Obama has never addressed that issue.”

He added that he doubts a national discussion on race would be productive.

“All it’s going to do is wind up being a big political fight, where there’s not going to be any discussion on race,” said McKee, adding that it would be more productive to ask white Americans to “say no” when a taxicab passes up an African-American to stop for them — or to take notice of the number of blacks in management positions where they work.

“For the first time in his presidency, he spoke as a bridge in America,” Jason Johnson, a political science and communications professor at Hiram College in Northeast Ohio, told Newsmax in an exclusive interview.

Jason Johnson, a political science and communications professor at Hiram College in Northeast Ohio, also told Newsmax that Obama has taken too long to address issues of race.

“He’s avoided that assiduously throughout his presidency, in large part because he is concerned that white independent voters don’t ever want to hear anything about race unless it’s a critique of the African-American community or culture," Johnsn said.

He said Obama's comments created "a wonderful bridge" that could open dialogue about race.

“But what he essentially said was: ‘Look, there are some real, empirical reasons why black people in particular are disappointed in this ruling. It has to do with history. It has to do with racism. It has to do with very real things that happen in America — and we can’t just ignore those things because it is politically convenient to ignore history,’” Johnson added.

In his speach, Obama described times he heard the clicks of car doors locking when he walked across the street in his younger days.

"There are very few African-Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often," he said.

Citing the experiences of his teenage daughters, Obama said younger generations have fewer issues with racism. Still, he said, Americans need to do some "soul searching" on whether they harbor prejudice and should judge people not on the color of their skin.

"Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesn't mean we're in a post-racial society. It doesn't mean that racism is eliminated ... We're becoming a more perfect union, not a perfect union, but a more perfect union," he said.

The Zimmerman verdict has produced a mixed reaction from Americans. A Reuters-Ipsos online poll found 34 percent agreed with the verdict, while 39 percent opposed it. It also found 68 percent did not approve of racial profiling by police. The July 16-19 surveyed 616 Americans and had a "credibility interval" of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

After issuing a written statement on Sunday, Obama kept silent publicly on the case as some reacted angrily to the verdict. An aide said Obama had watched the coverage of the case on television and had talked to friends and family about it.

He informed some senior staff on Thursday that he wanted to address the issue publicly. An appearance at the start of White House press secretary Jay Carney's daily briefing was deemed the best venue.

Trayvon's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, issued a statement on Friday praising Obama and saying they were aware that their son's death and the jury's verdict had been deeply painful and difficult for many people.

"What touches people is that our son, Trayvon Benjamin Martin, could have been their son. President Obama sees himself in Trayvon and identifies with him. This is a beautiful tribute to our boy," they said.

Noting racial disparities in the application of criminal law ranging from the death penalty to drug enforcement, Obama urged the Justice Department to work with local governments to reduce mistrust in the justice system and said states should ensure their laws did not provoke incidents like the Martin killing.

Obama specifically mentioned Florida's "stand-your-ground" law, which allows individuals to use reasonable force to defend themselves without any obligation to retreat or flee. Critics of the Sanford police department's investigation of Zimmerman say it was central to the decision not to arrest him immediately.

The law did not factor in Zimmerman's trial, though a juror cited it in acquitting him.

"I just ask people to consider, if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened? And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws," said Obama.

Todd Beamon and Paul Scicchitano of Newsmax contributed to this report.